Apple Met With California DMV Officials to Discuss Autonomous Vehicles

It looks like Apple is continuing work on its autonomous automotive projects, as it met with executives from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles last month.

According to a new report from 9to5Mac, Apple last month met with a number of executives from California’s DMV to discuss autonomous vehicles and their future.

Documents acquired by macReports through a public information request show at least six DMV officials, including Director Jean Shiomoto, were present at a meeting that took place on April 2 at Apple’s One Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino.

Steve Kenner, Director of Product Integrity, was on hand to represent Apple. Kenner, who has always been closely connected with the project, once wrote a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposing a policy update that would grant automotive industry newcomers opportunities to test their self-driving vehicles on public roads.

While it is currently unknown what was discussed during the meeting, macReports does mention that in a follow-up email DMV Deputy Director Bernard Soriano thanked Kenner for his time and mentioned an issue that came up during the meeting.

“Just following up on an issue that was brought up regarding turnaround times for drivers enrolled in the EPN program,” the follow-up reads. “We checked with the Deputy Director over that program. Sonia Huestis (cc’d), and it looks like there isn’t a backlog. Do you have some specifics on the issues that were brought up? Sonia and her staff can track that down and see what and why there are bottlenecks.”

Apple has met with California DMV officials in the past and is currently testing the second-largest fleet of test cars in the state with a total of 45 Lexus RX450h SUVs, complete with updated sensor equipment including advanced LiDAR and GPS hardware.

This report shows that Apple is still actively working on its own autonomous automotive technology, but beyond that, most everything else is still unclear in this regard.

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